Thursday, May 12, 2011

Envirotex Lite Resin and Crocheted Keepsakes

Hello friends! Today I wanted to show you a pendant I made featuring hand crocheted samples.It began with this truly gorgeous bezel. John Bead donated these samples for me to work with and you can find more information about these here.I have been collecting vintage crochet and hand sewn linens for a long time. What many of my pieces have in common are stains and yellowing. But I can't believe that anyone would throw away something embellished by hand. So I often cut away the best sections and try to preserve them. When this blog is a little older I will have the opportunity to write longer posts about working with fabrics and fibers. It is a little more difficult than working with paper because fabrics are harder to seal. In other words if every single fiber isn't protected from the resin, it will act as a wick drawing the resin into itself and that fiber or section will look darker when the resin cures. Lots of people like this effect though! But if you are working with ivory or white, like I did for this project, sealing my crochet was very important. Environmental Technologies Inc, the makers of Envirotex Lite do make an amazing sealer: "Ultra Seal." This product is not sold everywhere :( but it is what professionals do use, especially those creating products featuring photos. You can read about Ultra Seal here.I brushed Ultra Seal onto my crochet pieces three times allowing it to dry between applications. The crochet piece was very stiff when I was done and I was able to pop the sections into the bezel with ease.Then I mixed up a small batch of Envirotex Lite resin and poured it into the bezel, right to the brim.This resin pour requires a lot of babysitting! Tiny bubbles of air can be trapped under each fiber and you would be amazed at how many bubbles came to the surface 45 minutes to an hour after my resin pour. So I carefully watched and popped any bubbles that rose to the surface. (I will blog how to pop bubbles in an upcoming blog)After six hours the resin is very thick, not yet fully cured, but it is in a state where if you bump your piece resin won't spill. At this point I placed my vintage button onto the surface. I pushed it into the resin just a little bit. I wanted it to adhere, but remain on the surface of the resin.Success! It worked beautifully!